The Party Line: How The Media Dictates Public Opinion in Modern China

The first in-depth, authoritative discussion of the role of the
press in China and the way the Chinese government uses the media to
shape public opinion

China's 1.3 billion population may make the country the world's
largest, but the vast majority of Chinese share remarkably similar
views on these and a wide array of other issues, thanks to the
unified message they get from tightly controlled state-run media.
Official views are formed at the top in organizations like the
Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television and allowed to
trickle down to regional and local media, giving the appearance of
many voices with a single message that is reinforced at every
level. As a result, the Chinese are remarkably like-minded on a
wide range of issues both domestic and foreign.

Takes readers beyond China's economic miracle to show how the
nation's massive state-run media complex not only influences public
opinion but creates it

Explores an array of issues, from Tibet and Taiwan to the
environment and US trade relations, as seen through the lens of the
Xinhua News Agency

Tells the story of the official Xinhua News Agency along with
its history and reporting over the years, as the foundation for
telling the story

Doug Young is an associate professor in the Journalism
Department at China's Fudan University in Shanghai. He has worked
in the media for nearly two decades, half of that in China, where
he witnessed the massive changes that have taken place in the
country since the earliest days of the reform era in the 1980s.
Most recently, he worked for Reuters from 2000 to 2010 covering the
China story out of the agency's Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei
bureaus. Prior to relocating to China, he worked as a journalist in
Los Angeles. A native of Washington, DC, he received his bachelor's
degree in geology from Yale University and a master's degree in
Asian studies from Columbia University. In addition to his current
roles as teacher and author, he is a closely followed commentator
on the latest Chinese business news and industry trends on his
blog, www.youngchinabiz.com.

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Shanghai-based former journalist and China media expert Doug Young provides a fascinating look into the crucial but poorly understood relationship between China’s media and the Communist Party in the new publication of ‘The Party Line: How The Media Dictates Public Opinion in Modern China’.

China’s Communist Party, using the media as its megaphone, is more interested in reporting a version of the truth that it wants its people to believe, in contrast to the media’s more traditional role as public watchdog in Western societies. The Party Line explains how China’s 1.3 billion people share remarkably similar views on a wide array of domestic and global issues ranging from foreign relations, to government corruption and global warming.

The official version of news is formed at the top in organizations like the Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television before being allowed to trickle down to regional and local media. As a result, the average consumer gets strikingly unified messages despite the appearance of many voices in the local media.

The Party Line presents a holistic look at the media to help readers understand how Chinese media operate, and in turn how that influences the view that Chinese people have of their country and the outside world.

The book includes detailed analyses on several major historical events from the 1950-53 Korean War, to the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In exploring these events, Young provides insight into why the Chinese media reported on those events the way they did, and what their approach said about the Communist Party’s agenda at the time.

“After more than a decade of working as a reporter in China, I find the Chinese media especially fascinating for their remarkable focus and ability to stay on message,” said Young.

Written in a straightforward prose for ordinary readers, The Party Line is the only mainstream English book which offers an unparalleled insight into China’s media industry and how it has changed over time.

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